Transitions across various continuing care settings.
OBJECTIVE
to compare cross-nationally the sources and rates of admission and discharge in nursing homes.


METHODS
data on admission were used from the Minimum Data Set of the Resident Assessment Instrument as collected in a multi-nation database at the University of Michigan. Additional data containing longitudinal episodes were used from databases in the Netherlands, Switzerland and the USA.


RESULTS
the sources and rates of admission and discharge in nursing homes vary widely between countries. In Japan 47.5% of the sample was admitted from another long-term care setting, in Italy and the USA 36% and 42% respectively were admitted directly from hospital, while in Denmark and Iceland more than 60% came from home. The longitudinal data show that in the Netherlands, residents' return to home was much more likely than in Geneva or the USA (27% vs 5% vs 10%) and that in the USA a relatively large number of nursing home residents (>45%) was discharged (intermittently) to a hospital within 180 days after first admission as compared to the Netherlands (10%).


CONCLUSIONS
there are large differences between countries in admission and discharge to and from nursing homes. Various policies, payment schemes, care patterns and routine referrals influence this and can be studied with cross-national data now available.
Frijters
D H
DH
Department of General Practice, Nursing Home Medicine and Social Medicine, Free University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Dinnus.Frijters@sig.nl
Mor
V
V
DuPaquier
J N
JN
Berg
K
K
Carpenter
G I
GI
Ribbe
M W
MW
D000368:Aged; D005060:Europe; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D009735:Nursing Homes; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010351:Patient Discharge / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014481:United States